CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans might have saved at least 750,000 jobs in North Carolina alone, according to a report Monday from the Small Business Administration.
Channel 9 dug through the report and found which local businesses likely got the most money.
More than 16,000 businesses in North Carolina have been approved so far. While we don’t know the exact dollar figures each business received, we know the ranges they fall in.
According to the report, some businesses received up to $10 million, while others only got $150,000. Here is a breakdown of the funds:
- Nearly 90% got less than $1 million
- Another 9% got between $1 and $5 million.
- 0.6% got more than that.
Looking at the businesses that got more than $5 million, there were only 100 of them, 34 of those are from our viewing area.
Some of the businesses on the list that stood out were Bojangles which was listed for getting $5-$10 million to keep 500 people employed.
The company told Channel 9, “While the company’s name is included on the list, Bojangles never signed loan documents or accepted funding.”
Colleges like Lenior Rhyne and Johnson C. Smith University were on the list, along with medical offices like Orthocarolina and Tryon Medical Partners.
If we go down one money bracket, Channel 9 found several churches, including Elevation Forest Hill and the Charlotte Diocese.
Restaurants like Buscuitville and Viva Chicken also got between $2 million - $5 million.
[ ALSO READ: Charlotte restaurants devise different ways to stay alive through pandemic ]
The program was created to help small businesses not layoff workers. The idea was for companies to use the money to keep paying workers even though they physically were not working. As long as the company did that, they wouldn’t have to pay back the money.
The new program didn’t come without some problems. In May, congresswoman Alma Adams received nearly 1,900 complaints about the PPP program. She called for an immediate audit to address concerns like application cherry-picking and poor quality control.
The frustration among small-business owners grew when they found out some bigger businesses like Shake Shack and Ruth’s Steakhouse got approved for the loan. Those two companies returned the millions of dollars they received in PPP funding.
The president just signed an extension to the program. Businesses still have until Aug. 8 to apply for the $130 billion still left in the program’s account.
Click here to download a list of all the businesses in North Carolina that were approved for the loans.
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